Read this in Swahili / Soma hii kwa Kiswahili
This Tanzanian-German project (2026–2027) focuses on provenance research and oral history, as well as identifying ancestral remains and personal belongings which were appropriated during the German colonial period in the Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions. For the duration of the project, an information and research centre is established in Moshi, the heart of the Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania. This Centre is located in the renovated historic building of the Kilimanjaro District Council (KDC). Here, archival material and institutional data is made accessible and presented in an updated ‘Marejesho’ exhibition, alongside community workshops and outreach programmes. The collaborative provenance research is primarily geared towards the needs of descendants and the communities of origin in the Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions of Tanzania (Wachagga, Maasai, Waarusha, Wameru and Wapare). Two community worshops are planned.
The Marejesho Research and Information Centre is building on the long-standing efforts of the communities in Kilimanjaro and Arusha to examine German colonial history and its consequences, and specifically to search for and reclaim the ancestral remains of the leaders who were hanged on March 2, 1900 in Old Moshi on the orders of German colonial officers. A multidisciplinary team from Tanzania and Germany initiated the project as a follow-up to the ‘Marejesho’ mobile research exhibition in Tanzania (2022). The exhibition and the project’s findings will remain on site to support the development of a planned community museum and information centre in the KDC building.
The project consists of two sub-projects:
- a provenance research project at Justus-Liebig University Giessen, funded by the German Lost Art Foundation (DZK)
- and a research and knowledge exchange project by the Better Nation Foundation Tanzania (BNFT), financed by the Gerda Henkel Foundation
Cooperation partners include:
- Moshi District Council (MDC)
- Ethnological Museum Berlin (EMB-SPK)
- Zentralarchiv (Central Archive) of the Staatliche Museen Berlin
- State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony (SES)
- Linden-Museum Stuttgart
- Leipzig Mission (Leipziger Missionswerk e.V.).
Kiswahili
Ni mradi wa ushirikiano kati ya Tanzania na Ujerumani unaolenga kuimarisha uwazi na kubadilishana maarifa kuhusu historia za kikanda, unyakuzi wa kikoloni na marejesho ya urithi wa kihistoria na kitamaduni. Kwa kipindi chote cha mradi huu (2026 hadi 2027), kituo cha mawasiliano na taarifa kitaanzishwa mjini Moshi, katikati ya Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro nchini Tanzania. Kituo hicho kitafanya kazi katika vyumba vilivyokarabatiwa ndani ya jengo la kihistoria la Halmashauri ya Wilaya ya Kilimanjaro (KDC) ya zamani mjini Moshi. Katika kituo hiki, taarifa kuhusu masalia ya miili ya mababu na mali binafsi za kihistoria za mababu zitawekwa wazi na kupatikana kwa umma. Masalia na mali hizo zilichukuliwa kutoka mikoa ya Kilimanjaro na Arusha na kupelekwa Ujerumani wakati wa utawala wa kikoloni wa Ujerumani. Utafiti huu wa ushirikiano kuhusu historia ya asili na umiliki wa makusanyo (Provenienzforschung) unazingatia zaidi mahitaji ya wazao na jamii za asili kutoka mikoa ya Kilimanjaro na Arusha nchini Tanzania, (hususan Wachagga, Wamasai, Waarusha, Wameru na Wapare). Warsha mbili kubwa za jamii zimepangwa kufanyika.
Nyaraka za kumbukumbu (archive materials) pamoja na taarifa kutoka taasisi mbalimbali zitawekwa na kupatikana katika Kituo cha Mawasiliano na Taarifa mjini Moshi, na pia zitaonyeshwa na kufafanuliwa kupitia maonesho yaliyoboreshwa ya “Marejesho”. Mpango ni kwamba miundombinu itakayowekwa wakati wa utekelezaji wa mradi ibaki katika eneo husika baada ya mradi kukamilika, kwa lengo la kusaidia uanzishaji wa makumbusho ya ndani na kituo cha taarifa.
Mradi huu unajengwa juu ya juhudi za muda mrefu za jamii za asili za kuchunguza historia ya ukoloni wa Ujerumani na athari zake. Juhudi hizo zimejikita hasa katika kutafuta na kurejesha masalia ya miili ya viongozi mashuhuri waliouawa kwa kunyongwa mnamo tarehe 2 mwezi Machi mwaka 1900 (02.03.1900) huko Old Moshi kwa amri ya maafisa wa utawala wa kikoloni wa Ujerumani. Mradi huu ulianzishwa na timu ya wataalamu wa fani mbalimbali kutoka Tanzania na Ujerumani kufuatia kukamilika kwa maonesho ya utafiti ya “Marejesho” yaliyofanyika nchini Tanzania mwaka 2022.
Mradi huu unajumuisha sehemu mbili za utafiti mradi wa utafiti wa historia ya asili na umiliki wa makusanyo (provenance research) katika:
- Chuo Kikuu cha Justus Liebig mjini Giessen nchini Ujerumani, unaofadhiliwa na Taasisi ya Ujerumani ya Upotevu wa Urithi wa Kitamaduni (Deutsche Stiftung für Kulturgutverluste – DZK)
- pamoja na mradi wa utafiti wa Better Nation Foundation Tanzania (BNF), unaofadhiliwa na Taasisi ya Gerda Henkel (Gerda Henkel Stiftung) ya Ujerumani
Miongoni mwa washirika wa mradi huu ni pamoja na:
- Halmashauri ya Wilaya ya Moshi (KDC)
- Makumbusho ya Ethnolojia ya Berlin (Ethnologisches Museum Berlin – EMB-SPK)
- Kumbukumbu Kuu za Makumbusho ya Taifa ya Berlin (Zentralarchiv der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin)
- Makusanyo ya Ethnografia ya Jimbo la Saxony (Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen – SES)
- Makumbusho ya Linden ya mjini Stuttgart (Linden-Museum Stuttgart)
- Asasi ya Kimisionari ya Leipzig (Leipziger Missionswerk e.V.)
